Podiatry Healthcare Group is committed to protecting the privacy of your personal and health information. This policy explains what we collect, why we collect it, how we handle it, and how you can access it. We handle your information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Australian Privacy Principles, and the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic).
What we collect
To provide safe and appropriate podiatric care we collect:
- Your name, date of birth, address, phone number and email address.
- Your Medicare number, private health fund details, DVA or WorkCover details where relevant.
- Your relevant medical history, current medications, allergies and health conditions.
- Clinical notes, assessment findings, treatment records, and any images taken with your consent.
- Correspondence with your GP or other treating practitioners.
If you contact us through the form on our contact page, we collect only the details you choose to provide there.
Why we collect it
We collect your information so that we can assess and treat you safely, keep accurate clinical records as required by law and our professional obligations, process Medicare and health fund claims, communicate with you about your appointments and care, and where relevant liaise with your other treating practitioners.
How we use and disclose it
We do not sell your information, and we do not disclose it for marketing purposes. We may disclose your information:
- To other health practitioners involved in your care, with your consent.
- To Medicare, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, your private health fund or an insurer, for the purpose of processing a claim you have made.
- Where we are required or authorised to do so by law.
- Where disclosure is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to someone’s life, health or safety.
How we store and protect it
Your records are held in Halaxy, our practice management system, which is password protected and access controlled. Any paper records are stored securely. Access is limited to staff who need it to do their job. Halaxy handles the storage of that information under its own privacy policy, which we have linked so you can read it. We are required to retain adult health records for a minimum of seven years from the date of last service, and for patients under 18, until they reach the age of 25.
Our website, analytics and advertising
We measure how people find and use this website so that we can improve it and understand which of our advertising is worth paying for. This section explains exactly what that involves, because we think you are entitled to know.
What we deliberately do not collect
We do not tell Google, or any other advertising company, which treatment pages you have read. If you read our page about diabetic foot care, fungal nail infections or plantar warts, that page address is replaced with a generic one before any information leaves this website. We consider which condition you were reading about to be health information about you, and we do not disclose it.
We also do not build advertising audiences from your visit. We do not run retargeting or remarketing, we do not upload customer lists to advertising platforms, and we do not use Google Signals. You will not be followed around the internet by our advertising because you read about a foot problem.
What we do collect
- Which general area of the site you visited, how you arrived (for example from a Google search or an advertisement), your approximate location at city level, and the type of device and browser you used.
- Actions that tell us the site is working: tapping a phone number, opening the online booking calendar, completing a booking, or sending the contact form.
- If you arrived from an advertisement, the identifier that the advertising platform attached to that click, so we can tell which advertisements bring patients to us.
We use Google Analytics and Google Ads, provided by Google LLC. This means some of the information above is disclosed to Google and stored on servers outside Australia, including in the United States. Where you have consented to this, Australian Privacy Principle 8.1 will not apply to that disclosure, and we will not be accountable under the Privacy Act for how Google handles it.
Your choice
When you first arrive, we show a notice explaining this and offering you a Decline option. If you decline, no information is sent to Google at all, and the site works exactly as it did before. You can change your mind at any time by clearing this site’s data in your browser settings, which will bring the notice back.
We do not use cookies to identify you personally, and we never combine anything collected on this website with your clinical record.
Online booking
Our online booking calendar is provided by Halaxy, our practice management system, and is displayed inside our booking page. It only loads when you choose to open it. When you book through it you are providing your information to Halaxy as well as to us, subject to their privacy policy. We do not pass any advertising identifier into that booking calendar, and the only thing it sends back to us is the fact that a booking was started or completed — never who you are, which practitioner you chose or what you booked.
Accessing and correcting your information
You have the right to request access to the personal and health information we hold about you, and to ask us to correct it if it is inaccurate, out of date or incomplete. Please make your request in writing. We may charge a reasonable fee for retrieving and copying records, and we will respond within 30 days.
Complaints
If you have a concern about how we have handled your information, please raise it with us first by calling (03) 9111 0085 or writing to us via our contact page, and we will investigate.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au, or the Health Complaints Commissioner (Victoria) at hcc.vic.gov.au.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The current version will always be available on this page.
Last updated: 25 August 2026. Podiatry Healthcare Group, ABN 62 099 521 963 (ACN 099 521 963). Questions about this policy, or about the personal information we hold about you, can be sent to info@podiatryhealthcare.com or raised on (03) 9111 0085.